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20th Anniversary Mac

LEM Staff - 1997.03.20

The Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh (or TAM) was a radical change from existing computers. The slim unit (just 2.5″ deep) uses the same kind of LCD screen usually found in laptops. Stereo speakers surround it, along with a large subwoofer for really solid bass.

The keyboard is also like that of a PowerBook. It has no numeric keypad, but it does include a trackpad. TAM uses a 2.5″ laptop hard drive, the first desktop Mac to do so. (The second was the first Mac mini, introduced in 2005.)

The logic board is a modified laptop board similar to the one in the PowerBook 3400c. According to MacSpeedZone, installing a 512 KB level 2 (L2) cache boosts performance by 15%, going to 1 MB improves it by 27%.

Apple built 12,000 TAMs, making it a bit less rare than Mac TV, which had 10,000 units. Then again, TAM was very expensive, while Mac TV was aimed at consumers, so finding a TAM at a price you like will take some doing.

Although Apple broke the mold after building the TAM, within five years it introduced the second desktop Mac with an LCD monitor, the 15″ iMac G4. But it wasn’t until August 2004 that the first thinner, lighter iMac G5 arrived in 17″ and 20″ editions, the true successor to TAM’s design – and a design the iMac uses to this day.

TAM had a small role in Batman.

Several TAM users have reported support for 24-bit video using the ATI January 2002 retail drivers. Especially see the posting by Rudy V. Pancaro on the Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh forum.

Steve Wozniak warned against using a disk partition larger than 4 GB, as it can cause the whole system to hang, but this appears to apply only to bootable volumes.

The Five Weirdest Macs of All Time, Benj Edwards, Macworld, 2012.10.12. Flower Power and Blue Dalmatian iMacs. Twentieth Anniversary Mac. Power Mac G4 Cube. Macintosh XL. Power Mac G3 All-in-One.

Low End Mac’s Compleat Guide to Mac OS 9, Charles W Moore, Miscellaneous Ramblings, 2008.05.12. Mac OS 9 remains fast and stable, but Classic software hasn’t kept up with the changing internet. Which Macs support OS 9, where to buy it, and how to update to 9.2.2.

The good, the bad, and the ugly of AppleDesign, Charles W Moore, Miscellaneous Ramblings, 2008.10.15. Apple has produced some beautiful computers and iPods over the years, but also a few of the ugliest and most ungainly computers ever seen.

The 25 most important Macs, Dan Knight, Mac Musings, 2009.02.17. The 25 most significant Macs in the first 25 years of the platform, continued.

Why You Should Partition Your Mac’s Hard Drive, Dan Knight, Mac Musings, 2008.12.11. “At the very least, it makes sense to have a second partition with a bootable version of the Mac OS, so if you have problems with your work partition, you can boot from the ’emergency’ partition to run Disk Utility and other diagnostics.”

The Compressed Air Keyboard Repair, Charles W Moore, Miscellaneous Ramblings, 2008.07.24. If your keyboard isn’t working as well as it once did, blasting under the keys with compressed air may be the cure.

10 cult Macs adored by collectors, Tamara Keel, Digital Fossils, 2008.05.13. Macs are not only noted for their longevity, but also by the passion which collectors have for some of the most interesting models ever made.